Dragon Ball/Z/GT Fan Fiction ❯ True Torture ❯ Chapter 5 ( Chapter 5 )

Chapter 5

It was dark. And there was a weight pressing on his back. It centered right on his spine, just above his tail spot. If he moved, it would rub against it. It would hurt.

Vegeta, Prince of the Saiyans, former prisoner of Bulma Briefs, now freed, knew what pain was. That was why he stilled immediately upon making sense of his surroundings. Or lack of them rather.

It was pitch dark, and dust and dirt clogged his eyes and nose, making it harder to breathe than it already was. There was no air here, no outlet or entry for it. The little that was in the hollow that formed around them was going to run out…and quickly.

Them. He could feel the woman underneath him. She felt nothing. She was paralyzed. That was good in a way. If they died, she wouldn't feel anything.

It was ironic though. The kind of irony that made him want to chuckle. If he wanted to waste precious air that is.

He'd gotten free, and now something- He wasn't sure really what had happened. He'd injected the woman and everything had exploded around them. He'd been thrown forward. They must be somewhere near the outside wall, underneath what was left of the woman's house. And they were stuck too, at least he was. Pinned quite nastily.

He wondered idly if the woman was still reading his thoughts. She was probably laughing at him…maybe. She might just be-yes, he could smell the fear rolling off of her. She had no idea what had happened.

He didn't feel like enlightening her either. He felt like trying to find a way out of this situation. There was little air, which meant no holes to the outside, no outside access to blow a hole through. There was pressure above him and he was sure below the woman. The only reason it wasn't crushing them was because the slab of stone centered painfully on his back was holding back the other rubble. If he moved an inch, he'd crush them both.

Damn it! He wanted her alive for his vengeance. He wanted her to watch him crush everyone in his fists.

"-ulma!"

His ears suddenly perked up and he titled his head to one side. Was that-?

"-ulma!"

Yes! It was the half-breed. He wanted to shout out, but the voice sounded far away. He couldn't waste breath now. He had to wait until the brat was closer.

"-ma!"

Damn it, was he moving further away? He felt the rock above him suddenly shift and wasn't able to break off the agonizing scream that was forced from his lips as it landed squarely on his tail spot. The whole world shrunk to that horrid, paralyzing pain. The entire color spectrum burst apart around him, in front of his eyes.

He ran out of air, the little air left in that hole, long before the pain subsided. He was left gasping and panting, eyes wide and the pressure from not being able to catch his breath making sweat break out and pour down him. He couldn't think, couldn't see, couldn't feel anything.

Relief suddenly swamped him. The pressure lifted, and he took in a huge lungful of air. It was so sudden, the relief, that he was left coughing and shivering from a cold sweat. He heard something dimly, felt himself being jostled, but he-gods, he hurt everywhere!

His head rocked back from a blow and he blinked once, then again, sure the green form in front of him was an illusion. A frog-?

"Huh, thought you were dead for sure. That wouldn't have gone over well." The thin, nasal voice that reached his pounding ears made him wince almost as much as the throbbing of his tail spot.

Guldo.

He was dropped unceremoniously on his rear and had to bite his lip until it bled to keep from bellowing out. "Hey guys! I found him. Looks like Jeice landed right on top of him!"

The laughter that followed that proclamation made Vegeta grit his teeth and struggle to his feet. He only made it to his knees before his legs simply refused to lift any more. His arms felt as heavy as lead, never mind that his head could barely crane upwards.

He heard the crunch and crumble of displaced stones and turned his head to the side enough to view the four sets of boots coming their way.

Ginyu…and his whole squad.

"Wha-?"

He was embarrassed when his throat cracked, the words sticking there. A hand clenched the gravel underneath it as Ginyu's boots stopped before him and his booming voice sounded. "Cat got your tongue, Vegeta?"

He gritted his teeth, struggling again to stand as the others guffawed after their leader, their laughter like rocks rubbing into raw wounds. Finally the laughter died down and Ginyu squatted down, making it clear he was mocking Vegeta by doing so. The smile on his purple face told all.

"Lord Frieza heard about your little insurrection. He wasn't too pleased. But then you were so nice to mention those others dragonballs, on Namek." His grin widened, as if knowing the other was cursing voicelessly.

"He decided he simply couldn't let a planet that could take down three Saiyans remain in the universe. He said if we saw you, to bring you back." There was a significant pause for effect. "He misses you…."

Vegeta spat directly in the face that leered at him, watching in satisfaction as Ginyu reared back in disgust and surprise. He had only the time to let out a grunt before he was landing on his backside a couple feet away, nose bloodied and vision dancing.

"Damn Saiyan. Carry him to your pod Guldo. I'll kill this-creature."

"N-no." He knew who they were talking about, managed to quickly lever himself on his elbows and almost threw up in the process as everything spun sharply.

He heard footsteps coming near him, saw something purple blur in and out of his sight. "No?"

There was an edge to the voice, and he knew it wasn't a good one. But when had he ever shied away from that? "For F-Frieza."

Ginyu crouched down next to him, this time putting a foot right on his shoulder, crashing him grunting and growling back to the stone underneath. "You mean to tell me that this-human is a gift for Lord Frieza? A toy?"

"Yes."

Ginyu chuckled, and his lackeys joined him, cutting off abruptly when he did. "Do you think he'll ignore you if you give him this?"

His face burned. He could feel it. They all knew; every single one of them. It was part of his 'training.' "No."

Ginyu chuckled again, rising and turning from the Saiyan. "Jeice, take the girl. Guldo, you're with Jeice. Put Vegeta and his 'gift' in your pod."

As Jeice opened his mouth to protest, Ginyu cut him off. "You're the one that caused this mess by not landing correctly. I told you to take those refresher courses. If Lord Frieza thinks you've damaged his property, it'll be my head."

Whatever protests Jeice had died on his lips. Picking up the blue-haired, paralyzed woman, he flung her over his shoulder, frowning all the while. Vegeta grunted in displeasure as he watched white boots topped by black legs waddle into his vision. He saw the thing bend down to pick him up and snarled, waiting until he was half-way levered before using the thing's weight and hold against him, twisting free and barely managing to stay upright.

He got by with a good imitation of his usual arrogant pose, his feet spread to give him better balance, his arms across his chest as they tried to hide the fact that he was just getting his breath back. "Don't touch me, you freak! I can walk just fine on my own."

Before Guldo could do more than open his mouth to protest, Vegeta's head went forward as Ginyu casually slapped it walking past. "That's great, Saiyan. Can you fly as well?"

Vegeta was left gritting his teeth, watching the others chuckle and take off. He put his arms down and followed close after. He was slowly experiencing natural feeling returning to his limbs that caused them all to tingle and pull at him distractingly. It was very annoying.

What was even more annoying was the fact that they stopped before they had even gone very far. Vegeta moved around the members of the Ginyu Force that were in his way and watched.

"Put her down!"

It was Kakarott's brat. And he was standing before Ginyu in a fighting stance, small face serious and ki raised enough to create a shell around his form. Ginyu himself stood casually before him, one eyebrow raised in surprise and not a little amusement. The horned head turned from the boy toward Vegeta. "Who's this, Vegeta? I didn't think any of the little humans had a fighting power."

Floating forward slightly, Vegeta fixed the boy with a blank stare. Gohan spotted Vegeta, opened his mouth, and quickly snapped it shut. The Prince wondered what he had been going to say.

"He's Saiyan. Now either blast him or let's go."

Ginyu's eyes probed the other man, running over his face, but the Prince's visage was stone, revealing nothing more than disinterest. He looked back at the boy. "Burter."

The aforementioned man nodded and started toward the boy, who tensed. He halted when his leader's voice called out, preempting his attack. "Take him alive."

Burter half-turned, voicelessly questioning. Ginyu himself sneered. "You know Frieza's command."

Shrugging, Burter turned back to the boy. Vegeta merely blinked and Gohan was draped over the other. He catalogued the trait in his mind, vowing he wouldn't forget that one's speed.

"Let's go."

Nodding, they all set out, Vegeta last among the group, frowning lightly. By the time they got to Frieza's the woman's paralysis would be over. He wondered what exactly he was thinking, wanting her and the brat there. The medicine must have affected his mind, or prolonged exposure to humans had….

It was just outside of the rubble that had been Capsule Corporation that they landed, Vegeta ushered forward to the first open pod. He stared in at the small space and grumbled to himself. A month in this thing with that human? Oh, he'd-

All thoughts were halted as a push from behind sent him unceremoniously into the pod's seat. He barely had time to turn and open his mouth to growl before the woman was thrust into his lap, draped over him awkwardly. He grunted and settled for a hard glare at Jeice as the pod door closed. The man had the audacity to wink at him.

Vegeta twisted his torso around to a straight position and glanced down at the woman. Her eyes were open, moving around in panic. The smell of fear was awful, saturating the limited space they occupied. He wrinkled his nose. "Damn human. You've brought this upon yourself."

The human's eyes rolled toward him, and he watched as the jaw clenched, as he literally hissed at him, air barely coming from between gritted teeth. He actually felt the urge to smirk at her, but instead scowled and looked away, out the portal that showed the rubbles of the woman's house and career.

It was only a few moments later that they were rising from the ground. Vegeta knew the sleeping gas would be kicking in soon, so he would be blissfully ignorant until they landed at Namek, where his-master was.

He slid down in his seat more, adjusting the woman so that she didn't strain any of his bruised and sore muscles. A voice over the intercom the pods shared crackled to life and Vegeta sat up a little more.

"Recoom. Destroy the planet."

He knew the woman heard the voice, and he also knew that she would feel as he had felt, helpless to do anything to stop the events occurring. He didn't feel sorry for her, or anything remotely like empathy, but he didn't feel the triumph he should've either.

As the sleeping gas began to seep from the air vents to fill the pod, the last thing both Bulma and Vegeta saw was the lighting of the whole interior of the pod as they lifted away from the destroyed planet.

A/N: Ooh! I blew up Earth! Heehee That's off my checklist now. And now-um, I really have no idea. I'll get back to you on that. I think they actually see Frieza now….